House votes special benefits for Detroit

Aug. 19, 2009

House Bill 4047 of 2009 would declare the Detroit Public Schools to be a
"first class" school district. State law defines "first class" as a public
school district with more than 100,000 pupils, effectively meaning Detroit,
because the second-largest district — Utica — has fewer than 30,000 students.
One of the primary "benefits" of first-class status is that it prevents the
creation of additional charter public schools within the city and thus
insulates DPS from competition for pupils.

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While the DPS pupil count for 1999-2000 stood at 173,848, it has since
sharply declined to less than the 100,000-student threshold needed to retain
the special protection. HB 4047 would grandfather in a pupil count of more than
100,000 for Detroit until at least July 1, 2010, thus extending the first-class
status and protecting the district from additional charter school competitors.

Adding more charters within the city has been a major source of
controversy, particularly with regard to DPS' largest public employee union,
the Detroit Federation of Teachers. In 2003, multimillionaire philanthropist
Robert Thompson proposed to donate $200 million for 15 brand-new charter high
schools in the city, each with a 90 percent graduation rate guarantee. This
proposed graduation rate would have been far higher than what was then reported
by DPS high schools.

Though the Legislature, governor and mayor of Detroit were all initially
on board and ready to approve an expansion of the charter cap so as to allow the Thompson gift to take place, the DFT
responded with a one-day walkout from class so its members could drive to
Lansing and stage a 3,000-person protest in front of the Capitol. Without
classes to attend, many students came with their teachers that day, leading to
one of the largest protests the Capitol had seen in years. In response, Detroit
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick withdrew his support and the deal fizzled. (Later,
future Mayor Dave Bing arranged with Thompson to open one of his charter high
schools within the city, and thus far it appears to be meeting its 90 percent
graduation target.)

HB 4047, retaining the Detroit
Public Schools' status as a "first class" district and protecting the district
from additional charter school competition, was approved by the Michigan House
on April 2 when five Republicans joined 66 Democrats voting in favor of the
bill. There were 38 votes in opposition, all Republicans. The MichiganVotes.org
vote tally is below.

The bill is now in the Senate
Education Committee.

Ken Braun is the senior
managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential. He may be reached at author@mackinac.org. For additional information and an opportunity to comment on
the legislation mentioned in this article, please see www.mackinac.org/10762.

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